Last week my friend Stacey (I used to work with her at night) and I took our kids to the beach. There was a threat of thunder storms but we had a perfect day.
At one point Stacey went down to the water with her kids and Jackson. I stayed at the blanket with Madison and we threw cheerios to the seagulls. We had so much fun laughing. The birds are so big when they're so close to you and I was surprised Madison wasn't afraid at all. She was just cracking up when they would all go after the same cheerio.
Auntie Courtney's daughter Sophia had her first birthday party a couple weeks ago. This party was fit for a princess.
The birthday girl in her very own bouncy castle.
Alyssa awaiting her own party the following week.
At the moment Courtney, Steve and Sophia are living with Steve's parents on Pillings Pond. Their house was damaged by a burst hose on the second floor while they were away. They came home to find their ceiling on the floor and water pouring down all of the walls. They are waiting for the insurance company to figure things out.
Big Steve took us out on the boat. Look at that view of the party!
Jackson sitting with Nana and her new knee.
After a good hose down in the pool Sophia opened her presents.
Here are Madison and Jackson swimming in my parents' pool. Jackson can touch the bottom!
This past week the kids had soccer camp. I'll write more about it later but overall it was a lot of fun. Maddie is on the right in the white shirt and Jackson is in the yellow shirt.
Carter turned 1 a few weeks ago. Unfortunately it was pouring rain with thunder and lightning. Madison and Jackson had a great time playing with Carter's toys. Jackson kept asking when we were going to get cake.
Carter and Alyssa with Carter's Auntie
Alyssa, Maddie and Jackson
Raffe entertaining himself.
Jackson was happy when the cake was ready.
Eventually the rain cleared and we were able to hang outside.
A while ago I connected with a friend of my parents' on facebook. My parents are, I believe, the only two people on earth who aren't on facebook. Their friend and her family live in North Carolina now and have for a long time. My parents don't see them often at all. They went to high school together and my parents first date was with them.
I saw on facebook that Ann and Bobby were going to be visiting Maine for vacation. I told her that we'd love to meet up. We ended up making it a surprise for my parents. My dad even took a day off of work to drive to Ogunquit with us. All they knew was that we were going to the beach.
One of the foot bridges to get to Footbridge beach.
As we were nearing the end of the last foot bridge I saw Ann walking toward us. I was just getting out my phone to call her to find out exactly where she was. Luckily I already had my camera out to capture the moment.
My dad said he knew we were meeting them there. I have NO idea how.
We continued to the beach where we found Bobby and a whole group of their family and friends that were on vacation with them.
This beach was so beautiful. It had fabulous tide pools and as you can see from the picture below some parts were VERY deep. (Jackson was in a deeper hole next to where Maddie was standing).
The deeper areas were deep enough to jump into.
The beach was super windy that day and at times you could feel the sand pelting your body.
Jackson and Grandpa playing catch.
Catching up.
Bobby found this sea shell and gave it to Jackson.
My dad, Bobby, and Bobby and Ann's 12 year old son.
After a long day at the beach we all went to a pizza place for dinner. We ate outside which was great because the kids could run around.
These girls are Bobby and Ann's neighbors. They were so funny and I had a lot of fun chatting with them.
Funny side note. My dad hadn't had a haircut in a while. With all the windy salty air his hair was blown all around and ended up sticking out all over. He looked like a mad scientist.
I absolutely love surprises...giving almost as much as receiving. They're just fun and I'm so glad this one worked out.
Here's a slideshow of all the photos from that day.
One day a few weeks ago they came across the santa costume in their bureau. They were fighting over who got to wear it.
Jackson wanted to sit on Maddie's lap and tell her what he wanted for Christmas! HAHA I was so surprised she let him near her let alone sit ON her.
Now that I've totally slacked off on the monthly letters I feel like I haven't shared much information. I feel badly because I really want to document as much as I can as timely as I can. I have continued to take pictures on the 17th of every month though. I haven't shared those because I was thinking that I would eventually do a post. Maybe I'll share 6 of them in September and write a letter then? Then continue every six months with the letters? I don't know. I'll figure it out.
But for now, Maddie is 100% potty trained. She still has accidents here and there but she doesn't even wear a diaper to bed. The thing that shocked me most was how ready she was to wear underwear at night. I thought I'd keep her in a diaper for a really long time to avoid any messes in the middle of the night. From the day she stopped wearing a diaper during the day (Memorial Day) she woke up dry every single morning. After a couple of weeks I decided to stop doing the diaper at night. She has never had an accident at night. I think one night she woke up and said she had to go but other than that she sleeps through the night and is completely dry in the morning.
Jackson is still being a pain with wearing underwear. He is perfectly willing and able to pee and poop in the potty but he just can't be trusted. No matter how often I have him go he will still randomly pee on the floor.
I was really excited for the fourth of july this year so I could take M&J to see their first fireworks. Chris has absolutely no interest in seeing fireworks so my parents came over and we all went together. We found a great spot in Danvers and hung out until the fireworks started.
Here is everybody watching. I was really happy they weren't afraid at all! In fact the fireworks had a hard time keeping their attention. My mom bought them these flashlights and all they wanted to do was play with those.
